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Doubters denounced Matthew Cordle for, as they saw it, lobbying for a lighter prison sentence
when he appeared in an online video confessing to killing a Gahanna man in a drunken-driving
crash.

But his viral video begging people not to drink and drive might have bought him more time in
prison, Cordle said in a jailhouse interview yesterday.

Cordle acknowledged that accepting responsibility for the death of Vincent Canzani escalated his
case into a front-page story that quickly spread to national TV news broadcasts and popular
websites. Otherwise, his crime would have remained a Columbus-only story and not a big one at that,
because, he said, “unfortunately, drinking and driving has become an accepted part of our
society."

“The video got a lot of attention and required appropriate reaction from the court,” he said. “
If I didn’t make the video and quietly did this, I may have gotten a lighter sentence. As to what
may have happened, there’s no way of knowing.”

Cordle, 22, of Powell, was sentenced on Wednesday to 6 1/2 years in prison for aggravated
vehicular homicide and drunken driving. He faced from two to 8 1/2 years in prison.

He said the YouTube video in which he announced he would plead guilty to killing Canzani, 61, in
a wrong-way, drunken-driving crash on I-670 on June 22 was “not a courageous act.” Instead, it was
something the social-media-savvy man felt he needed to do to accept responsibility and to reach out
to his victim’s family while cautioning others not to drink and drive.

He holds himself out as a “cautionary tale,” his a story of a suburban kid from a good family
who lost his way, one who didn’t rediscover himself and gain purpose in life until tragedy
intervened.

Before the crash, Cordle was frequently driving drunk, he said.

“I wasn’t in a very good place. I was out drinking a lot, out partying a lot. ... I would
describe myself as a bit lost,” Cordle said of the drinking he partially attributed to
mental-health problems that include depression and anxiety.

He doesn’t recall much from the night of the crash, awakening in a hospital still drunk and not
wanting to believe he had killed a man.

“I was in denial,” he said.

Cordle gradually came to acceptance, saying he discovered his conscience and decided he couldn’t
lie about what happened.

“As much as I feel guilty for saying something like this, it has given me a purpose now —
something I can grasp on to and spend the rest of my life fighting for,” he said.

Cordle said he will preach from prison, however he can, against drunken driving. Working with
his sister, he has created a Twitter account —
@MatthewCordle — on which she will
post the thoughts he shares from prison. The account is secured, requiring his or her approval to
add followers.

Cordle choked up only once, and only slightly, when asked about forgiveness and if he could ever
grant it to himself.

“It’s something I think about a lot. ... But, I’m not ready to make that determination yet. I’ll
have to reflect on it during my prison sentence.”